Lions Tests all sold out

Rupert Guinness and Megan Levy

THE Australian public demonstrated its interest in rugby union on Monday by snapping up all tickets for the three-Test British and Irish Lions tour against the Wallabies.

All tickets for the Melbourne and Sydney Tests, on June 29 and July 6 respectively, were swept up in 15 minutes from 9am at prices ranging from $95 to $295.

But demand was greater for the first Test in Brisbane on June 22 with tickets going in five minutes.

With ticket sales now at 229,000 for Tests in Brisbane (52,000), Melbourne (52,000), Sydney (83,000), and a sell-out NSW Waratahs game at Allianz Stadium (42,000) on June 15, the Australian Rugby Union is looking at a sales target close to 400,000 with five games left.

The ARU is expecting the British and Irish Lions tour to be the biggest in Australian rugby history and, with 30,000 Lions fans expected, it is also set to be the biggest sporting tour to Australia after the 2000 Olympic Games and 2003 Rugby World Cup.

''This is a tour that has been 12 years in the making, and sporting fans around the country have acknowledged its magnitude by rushing to be part of the event,'' ARU chief executive Bill Pulver said on Monday.

''To see allocations exhausted for the three Test matches and for the Lions match against the Waratahs - four months out from the tour - is a wonderful endorsement for what will be a truly memorable visit by one of international sports' most iconic teams,'' he said.

''For the ARU, a code of football so long maligned for having dropped off the pace for public interest against AFL, NRL and football [soccer], yesterday's ticket sales reassured them that the 15-a-side game is still a crowd puller.''